Nickel Eye is the side project of Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture, who had the idea to make an album of his own during the Strokes' hiatus after their third album First Impressions of Earth. Taking some of his old poems and lyrics and the music of the Kinks, Frank Black, and early Leonard Cohen as inspiration, Fraiture recorded songs with the band South in London, then finished the album in New York with the help of friends like Regina Spektor and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nic Zinner. Time of the Assassins was released in winter 2009. ~ Heather Phares